Saturday, June 11, 2016

Spiritual Toxins

"Beauty in the Wilderness"

I have been having lots of problems with my allergies acting
up over the past few weeks, so I went to see my doctor the other day and he
told me that many of his patients have been coming in with allergic reactions
more severe than usual. He thinks that the hotter-than-usual weather and the
gusty winds have probably stirred up some unknown desert toxins that have been
slowly and yet dramatically impacting us in this region.

This morning as I read the paper I realized that virtually every
single story I came across was filled with toxins and pollutants that were irritating
my spirit. There were numerous stories
about “meaner-than-usual” presidential election politics, stories dripping with
hateful rhetoric, attack and personal insults. There were stories about rape
and murder, human trafficking and corporate greed.

I then deliberately went to my Facebook account and scrolled through the postings, and then I went
on to browse though my Twitter feed,
and I was struck by all the vitriol and poison of the words I was consuming
every day - violent rhetoric, insults bordering on hate speech.

It came to me that, like the desert where I live, there seems to be a lot more spiritual toxins in the air nowadays, way more than usual, and these
toxins are slowly but dramatically impacting me, leaving my soul wheezing and
sneezing and gasping for air.

This reminds me of a time back several years ago just after
the 9/11 terrorism attacks on New York City. For several days, my wife and I
found ourselves glued to the TV, constantly watching the continuous coverage - story
after story about death and destruction, heart-rending stories about families
torn apart, pledges of retribution and vengeance against those who perpetrated
the atrocities.

After almost a week of this constant media consumption my wife
became violently ill, severe headaches, body pains and nausea - in fact she had
all the symptoms of “food poisoning.” When we went to the doctor he asked a few
question and quickly determined that her problem was that she was consuming too
many “terror images” and “terror stories” in the media. It was poisoning her
soul.The doctor told us that he had been
seeing many patients come to him over the past days exhibiting these exact same
symptoms and he advised my wife to lay off the TV and put down the papers for a
while. She did so and in a matter of a few days she was feeling much better.

While reading the paper and browsing through the social media
this morning I had a flash of insight. I think a lot of people nowadays may be
suffering from “soul poisoning” as they consume the daily dose of toxic words
and images that so dramatically assault us in these meaner-than usual times.

.

The Buddha once said:

I play with flowers and their
fragrance clings to my clothes.

I find great wisdom in this saying. If I spend my days
sitting in the garbage, the smell will stick to me. If I spend my time with flowers, their
fragrance will cling to my clothes.

I will continue to read papers and watch the news and I don’t
plan on cancelling my Facebook or Twitter accounts, but I also realize
that I need to be very careful not to get sucked down into the pit where these stories drag me.Maybe I need to
watch a lot less news and be sure to unplug from time to time in order to
detoxify my spirit.

At the very least I need to feed my soul with things of
beauty. I need to be sure to spend time consuming the beauty of the desert
where I live, to take the time to watch the sun rise and to gaze each
night at the brilliant starts of cosmos. Maybe we all need need to be sure to ingest
beautiful poetry, read inspiring stories, watch uplifting movies and listen to
soul-healing music so that we might cleanse ourselves of all those spiritual toxins
in the air.

I am reminded of an old familiar Native American wisdom tale
about a “life-lesson” a grandfather offers his inquiring young grandson:

Grandfather, I have two wolves
fighting in my heart.

One is vengeful, fearful,
envious, resentful, deceitful.

The other wolf is loving,
compassionate, generous, truthful and serene.

About Me

I am a teacher, a writer, and a spiritual guide. I am an ordained Episcopal Priest and hold degrees in theology, philosophy, and communication. I am particularly interested in the common spiritual insights which the many various world religions share with one another.

My wife and I live in the beautiful desert in the Coachella Valley of Southern California.